He is fighting to upturn his unceremonious removal from office at the party’s botched convention ground in Port Harcourt on May 21. The convention, which was designed by his backers to be his coronation ceremony as substantive chairman, turned into his dethronement rites.
But the truth is, Sheriff’s appointment as party chair in February marked the beginning of this fight
a bitter disenchantment, throwing up a dozen centrifugal forces pulling in all directions.
In the first place, the former Borno State Governor’s name was not on the list of five aspirants of Northeast extraction considered for the job. His name suddenly came up on the very day that a choice was to be named, and to general chagrin, Sheriff was proclaimed chairman. The question raised by befuddled party members was: why Sheriff?
It is about finances, from all indications. Financial crisis reared its head in the administration of the party shortly after the PDP lost power at the centre in the 2015 general election. In an attempt to cut costs, the party had embarked on downsizing of secretariat staff and downward review of salaries and allowances of the few workers that were retained. The action sparked protest from the staff, leading to allegations of financial misappropriation and recklessness against members of the National Working Committee (NWC).
The stand-off degenerated into a media war between the aggrieved workers and members of the NWC. In the heat of the crisis, the workers threatened to drag some of the party officials before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation and prosecution. Some concerned party leaders eventually stepped in and the matter was resolved one way or the other. In one of the meditative interventions, the immediate past Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, told the workers the home truth when he said: “We have no other choice than to downsize. We no longer have the Presidency to run to for money so you should understand the situation on ground”.
With depleted resources and a routed PDP presidency, the party started looking elsewhere to augment its budget. And governors elected on the party’s platform saw a prospective milk cow in Sheriff. The lot fell on the boisterous Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, to lure the ex-Borno Governor. The members obviously reasoned that with Sheriff, who is reputed to be stupendously wealthy, as chairman, the party would tap the much needed financial reprieve to enable its fund its activities, particularly the 2019 general election project.
But Sheriff isn’t a spring chicken when it comes to political intrigues. Clearly cashing in on the desperation of the governors, Sheriff was reported to have assured them that he would make N40 billion available to the party if he was made chairman. He was also said to have promised to deploy five private jets to enable the PDP prosecute its 2019 electioneering campaign project. It was a game of mutual skulduggery bound to unravel down the line.
The governors bought the dummy, probably aiming to pull the rug off Sheriff’s feet after he would have seen the party through its financial difficulties. On the other hand, Sheriff baited them with the mouth watering package, not just for the position of chairman, but to transmute into the party’s presidential candidate at an appropriate time. With mutual treachery kept to the chest, Fayose went to town and succeeded in selling Sheriff’s candidacy to his fellow governors. With their influence and financial position, the governors were able to force the choice down the throats of the Board of Trustees (BoT), the National Assembly Caucus, the party’s league of ex-ministers and other interest groups.
As a decoy, the governors stated that Sheriff would only be chairman for three months, after which a national convention would be held to elect a substantive chair. Reluctantly, the party organs caved in to protests within their ranks. Attempts by the Concerned Stakeholders, led by a former Information Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana, to break away from the party on account of Sheriff did not deter the governors. A convention was scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt while Sheriff was still in the saddle.
With governors in the pocket, Sheriff reached out to the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, with an offer of the same vice presidential ticket. Ekweremadu, who considers himself a natural choice for the ticket, had no reason to doubt Sheriff’s sincerity. On many occasions, he had paid private visits to the chairman in his office, grinning from ear to ear at departure. But the bubble burst a few days to the convention. In the course of rubbing minds, the governors got to know that Sheriff had indeed promised five of them the vice presidential ticket. They also found out to their consternation that, instead of investing his personal resources on party activities as he caused them to believe, the chairman was allegedly expending the lean resources in the coffers.
It dawned on them that the goodies promised by Sheriff might as well be a pie in the air, a pig in the poke.
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